Ever heard of, or eaten black rice?  Researchers say black rice is a great source of antioxidants, even more than blackberries and blueberries.

Quoting from a recent meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS):

 “Just a spoonful of black rice bran contains more health promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than are found in a spoonful of blueberries, but with less sugar and more fiber and vitamin E antioxidants,” said Zhimin Xu, Associate Professor at the Department of Food Science at Louisiana State University Agricultural Center in Baton Rouge, La., who reported on the research. “If berries are used to boost health, why not black rice and black rice bran? Especially, black rice bran would be a unique and economical material to increase consumption of health promoting antioxidants.”

Once called “forbidden rice,” as it was hoarded by Chinese royalty for their own consumption, it’s now widely grown and eaten, mostly in Asia.  Zhimin Xu suggested that it may eventually be more popular in the west, as a possible addition to cereals, breads and baked goods.

Currently, brown rice is the most widely grown and eaten.  That’s mostly the full grain, but not including the outer husk of the rice.  White rice is brown rice that has been stripped of all its bran, which contains the antioxidants and anti-cholesterols which numerous studies have indicated help fight heart disease by lowering the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL, or the “bad one.”)

Sounds interesting.  I’ll do more research and see if I can find or create a good recipe for black rice. 

I’d like to try it, would you?